Friday, June 1, 2012

Last week I had a panic attack. I was in my office grading and I felt trapped, as though all of the contents in my office at school were closing in on me. I am lucky enough to have a 9 x 7 little square of space for me and me alone. It has a door. That locks. This little nook is my sanity some days, the place I go and listen to music while I grade or avoid my to do list and simply let the seething of a frustrated teacher ooze out of me during prep period. My office is where I sit when that final bell rings and typically ask "what just happened to me?" 180 days out of the year.

And yet, I couldn't breathe.

(Old silly picture of me pointing out a giant zit for the recipient of the photo, I'm pretty sure--

featuring my messy, survival-mode, office in the background.

And Edgar Allen Poe w/ his raven hangin' on the microwave.)

Enter Pinterest. Specifically this little idea space of mine on Pinterest. Once you've visited the dark side of neurotic organization, there is no turning back.

After many hours of work in the midst of teaching my final days of school with the antsy adolescents, several trips to the dumpster/recycling bins, and a semi-pricey little jaunt to Ikea, my life has gone from chaotic and over-stimulating to still chaotic but perhaps more aesthetic.

Behold (and please forgive my hazy phone pics):

(My desk has NEVER known a life this clean during my entire career.)

(These shelves never used to look like this. Trust me. It was ugly.)

(I purchased this small floor shelf to add a little more storage space for some easy to access office supplies.)

(My previous bulletin board "design" was a little too frenetic for me--if I liked it, I pinned it on somewhere.

I took everything down and covered it with some mini-chevron fabric and decided to choose my favorite